Posted on 02/02/2007 1:28:44 PM PST by YCTHouston
AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry ordered today that schoolgirls in Texas must be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, making Texas the first state to require the shots.
The girls will have to get Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer.
Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass laws in state legislatures across the country mandating it Gardasil vaccine for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.
Details of the order were not immediately available, but the governor's office confirmed to The Associated Press that he was signing the order and he would comment Friday afternoon.
Perry has several ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, his former chief of staff. His current chief of staff's mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.
Toomey was expected to be able to woo conservative legislators concerned about the requirement stepping on parent's rights and about signaling tacit approval of sexual activity to young girls. Delisi, as head of the House public health committee, which likely would have considered legislation filed by a Democratic member, also would have helped ease conservative opposition.
Perry also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee during his re-election campaign.
It wasn't immediately clear how long the order would last and whether the legislation was still necessary. However it could have been difficult to muster support from lawmakers who champion abstinence education and parents' rights.
Perry, a conservative Christian who opposes abortion rights and stem-cell research using embryonic cells, counts on the religious right for his political base.
But he has said the cervical cancer vaccine is no different than the one that protects children against polio.
"If there are diseases in our society that are going to cost us large amounts of money, it just makes good economic sense, not to mention the health and well being of these individuals to have those vaccines available," he said.
Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing an affidavit stating that he or she objected to the vaccine for religious or philosophical reasons.
Even with such provisions, however, conservative groups say mandates take away parents' rights to be the primary medical decision maker for their children.
The federal government approved Gardasil in June, and a government advisory panel has recommended that all girls get the shots at 11 and 12, before they are likely to be sexually active.
The New Jersey-based drug company could generate billions in sales if Gardasil — at $360 for the three-shot regimen — were made mandatory across the country. Most insurance companies now cover the vaccine, which has been shown to have no serious side effects.
Merck spokeswoman Janet Skidmore would not say how much the company is spending on lobbyists or how much it has donated to Women in Government. Susan Crosby, the group's president, also declined to specify how much the drug company gave.
A top official from Merck's vaccine division sits on Women in Government's business council, and many of the bills around the country have been introduced by members of Women in Government.
Are you aware the odds of a negative health reaction to this vaccination are higher than the odds of your daughter getting Cervical Cancer? Since June, when this was released, there has already been 89 adverse reactions. You cannot remove what you put in the body...
Wasn't it $60,000 instead of $6000?
and, Texas loves to have an excuse to take people's babies away from them...
Good grief~ learn a few things about vaccinations.
It is campaign funds from all the Pharms that is taking away a alot of our medical choices.
I don't know, perhaps.
Thank you for your courage in telling us your story, and for standing for protecting our children. God bless and keep you. We're only learning about the effects of different strains and how fast some of the cancers can develop.
You've probably saved a few lives, today, just by making us more aware.
By adding Gardasil to the mandated vaccine list, the Governor will increase the insurance companies that pay for the vaccine.
The last part of the Order contains strong language in favor of parental rights and for making it easier to opt out. That sort of language won't be found in the Dem's proposed legislation on the vaccine - instead, they build in more bureaucracy.
Yes and you have to sign a new opt out document every year. And how much do you want to bet your name gets in a database that some other government bureaucrat will use to harrass those who don't fall in line?
My mom never had an outbreak of the chicken pox even though she was exposed to it many times. It has always been troublesome for her to fill out medical forms, because there was no known date to fill in for when she had the chicken pox. She eventually did get tested by her physician for chicken pox antibodies and she did have them. I suggested she should put down the date she was tested.
When I was an infant, I was exposed to chicken pox at the church nursury. My mother says I had just one pock on my entire body. Later, when I was twelve and my brother was ten, my brother came down with a very heavy case of chicken pox after being exposed to the sons of my parents' friends. About a week later I came down with a case of chicken pox too, but my case was much lighter than brother's. I'm pretty certain I had a partial immunity.
Great point. Once you get the shot, there's no way to undo it if you start to get reactions. Here's an interesting comment from another thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1779740/posts?page=50#50
"According to the Merck product manufacturer insert, there was 1 case of juvenile arthritis, 2 cases of rheumatoid arthritis, 5 cases of arthritis, and 1 case of reactive arthritis out of 11,813 Gardasil recipients plus 1 case of lupus and 2 cases of arthritis out of 9,701 participants primarily receiving an aluminum containing placebo. Clinical trial investigators dismissed most of the 102 Gardasil and placebo associated serious adverse events, including 17 deaths, that occurred in the clinical trials as unrelated."
From NVIC
My dr. told me that if you get the test for the antobodies and it shows you have them, then you don't have to get the vaccine. But then again, someone has to pay for the test.
The liberal feminist next step is; implantation of birth control drugs into 10 year old girls.....
But only if it is couped with something to increase their libido. That's what new feminism seems to be implying young girls should be like.
Fortunately for my children, my husband and I research what goes into our children's bodies and do not rely on FReeper information/reaction when we make decisions. My daughter is two and we have 9 to 10 years before we need to make our own informed decision.
btw, my kids have had reactions to their vaccinations before. If you look at the vaccination literature that the pediatrician gives out, the percentages of kids who have certain reactions and what the reactions are is listed on the fact sheet. I don't know what the reactions are from this shot, as I haven't looked it up, but I doubt a fever would outweigh cancer on the scale.
This vaccine does not prevent cancer. It only prevents, I think four of twelve types of HPV.
The girls whom Perry wants to force this vaccine on, are not at risk for getting HPV yet.
By the time, some of them start experimenting , they would need booster shots.
It's already caused severe damages to minors. It wasn't even tested on girls 9-11, but it's mandatory for them to have it?
The thing with your break even logic is those 400 people who would die from cancer...chose to have sex. I'm not saying it's a bad decision, I recognize that even when you are chaste you can get HVP, but if 400 children die from the vaccine, it will be people who mostly never chose to put themselves at risk, and some of them never would have been at high risk. There is an opt out, but it can be denied, so it's not really an opt out.
I agreed with this decision until I started reading your posts, actually. If you can show me how it's a good thing to put all of those children at risk from a vaccine that hasn't even been tested on their age group, there's been no long term studies, and has already caused long term damage, in order to possibly prevent them from getting cervical cancer, I'll reconsider, but until there's been some long term studies on this, I can't agree with it.
We opted out of Prevnar because there was a 0.1% fewer instances of invasive pneumococcal disease. Studies suggest that Prevnar may interfere with the efficacy of two other vaccines (pertussis and IPV) and may interfere with the Varicella and MMR vaccine. Pediatricians are warned to be ready for possible allergic or anaphylactic reactions from administration of the vaccine. Prevnar contains aluminium, a known neurotoxin. Each .5 milliliter dose of Prevnar includes .125 mg of aluminum. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, "Aluminum is now being implicated as interfering with a variety of cellular and metabolic processes in the nervous system and in other tissues."
Controversy Many of the medical professionals and scientists involved in the testing and approval process for Prevnar had or still have significant conflict of interest problems, according to critics, who also question the vaccine's efficacy and safety testing, Because Prevnar is genetically engineered, a combination of different types and components of bacteria, critics have insisted on reevaluation of Prevnar's inclusion in universal vaccination schedules conducted by researchers uncompromised by conflict of interest issues. Critics also question whether the vaccine has any efficacy whatsoever, while pointing to Wyeth's admission that Prevnar does interfere with the efficacy of other vaccines.
Critics also contend that the political lobbying of vaccine industry, in attempting to assure that every child must receive every vaccine they decide is necessary, is primarily driven by the higher priority placed upon protecting shareholder profits than upon than the health of citizens. Under these circumstances, critics contend, there must be a reevaluation, by independent doctors and scientists, of whether or not there is an actual need for yet another addition to vaccination schedules, particularly in light of the small number of children possibly at risk from serious pneumococcal disease complications.
Further questions have been raised about whether Prevnar should be included in universal vaccination schedules at all, given the relatively minimal risks involved for most children. According to a 1994 report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, children who are most at risk of pneumococcal infections are generally limited to those with specific predisposing factors, "(Pneumococcal Infections) are more likely to occur when predisposing conditions exist, including immunoglobulin deficiency, Hodgkin's disease, congenital or acquired immunodeficiency (including HIV), nephrotic syndrome, some viral upper respiratory tract infections, splenic dysfunction, splenectomy and organ transplantation." However, most healthy children do not have these risk factors, and immunodeficient children may not be able to elicit an appropriate immune response to Prevnar. source Wikipedia
Google it for yourself and read. I wonder how many FReepers gave this to their kids without even reading about it, what it prevented, the actual chance that their child would be susceptible to what it is supposed to prevent and the actual prevention of (o.1%) (7% less ear aches) what it is intended for.
Unbelievable!
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